Template talk:NonCanonName
Non-Canon (here we go again) Alright, I have to say, I object to how this template is worded (at least regarding the articles it has thus far been used in). "Non-canon" is way too strong a term. "Ambiguously canon" would be fine, however. The whole point is, we don't know what is and is not canon. Wheden hasn't said. No one has. We only know Season Eight and After the Fall count because they have said so. A lot, I might add. We need to look at this like the Doctor Who fandom does. Much like Buffy, Doctor Who has three interconnected, canonical TV shows. But also like Buffy, Who has a ton of material (novels, comics, etc) that were published under the label, but haven't been commented on by the show's original creators. Wikipedia's Who disclaimer reads as follows: Like all Doctor Who spin-off media, subject's relationship to the ongoing story of the television series is open to interpretation. Most non-TV Who media has such a tag. We should follow that measure. Frankly, I think this tag should not exist. Since it is only used (thus far) in two articles, we should just add info to the "Behind the scenes" section explaining the circumstances of the naming issue, and leave it at that. If not, it needs to be reworded into a more EU-inclusive version. Din's Fire 997 02:07, 30 December 2008 (UTC) :They've been so vocal about S8 and AfF because it's so unusual for Buffyverse literature to be canon. They're special cases. That in itself implies that everything that hasn't been confirmed as canon isn't so. Stories aren't canon until proven otherwise, they're canon when they're written or approved by Joss Whedon. Doctor Who is different, that show has been around for decades and has various writers and producers, there's no single, definitive vision. Buffy has always been Joss' world and only his work is canon. We shouldn't dance around that issue with euphemisms like "ambiguously canon". Some stories, like Spike: Asylum might fall under that title, but not the majority. Paul730 20:01, 30 December 2008 (UTC) ::Well... I do believe some stuff can be considered "ambiguously canonical": the Pre-Season 1 Buffy comics (which were openly stated by the authors to be intended as bridges between The Origin and "Welcome to the Hellmouth"), and the stuff writen by Buffy writers and actors like Long Night's Journey, BTVS: Jonathan, Haunted, Spike & Dru and Willow & Tara, since these guys do pay attention to continuity), as well as Spike Asylum, since Betta George contacts the Pyromantic girl on panel in an After the Fall issue. --Gonzalo84 20:15, 30 December 2008 (UTC) Something can fit comfortably into continuity but still not be canon simply because whoever wrote it doesn't have the authority to write canonical works. I love Go Ask Malice and it slots perfectly into continuity, but it's not canon because Joss had nothing to do with it. Here's what Joss Whedon has said about ancillary work: :TVGuide.com: Have you seen the Battlestar Galactica comic? :Whedon: No, I don't think I can do it. I love Battlestar too hard. I couldn't look at any ancillary work. :TVGuide.com: I love Buffy "hard," so are you saying we fans shouldn't read the [Buffy the Vampire Slayer season eight (by Whedon)]? :Whedon: No, because if they stopped doing Battlestar Galactica, and then two or three years later Ron Moore and David Eick said, "We ourselves are going to continue the story in comic-book form — as opposed to something ancillary to the show done by other people," then I would be all over it. That's not to say the Battlestar comic isn't great, but I love that show the way other people love Buffy. I love it unreasonably." Also... :"Canon is key, as is continuity. If you are massive nerd. Which I am. I believe there's a demarcation between the creation and ancillary creations by different people. I'm all for that stuff, just like fanfic, but I like to know what's there's an absolutely official story-so-far, especially when something changes mediums, which my stuff seems to do a lot." http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=110457 Spike: Asylum and Shadow Puppets are a grey area because Joss has praised those series and they have been explicitly referenced in subsequent canon work. I wouldn't go so far as to say they were official canon but they're certainly a lot closer to it than other stories. The rest is non canon, it's that simple. Paul730 21:19, 30 December 2008 (UTC)